Duo Will Cycle 270 Kms To Raise Awareness For Cauvery

Tag : cycling, Bangalore, Cyclists, Karnataka

Two cyclists from Bangalore are on a mission to raise awareness about the Cauvery catchment area and protecting environment. Lack of enough rain will soon lead to the drinking water crisis by the next summer. Ashish Muthappa and his friend Chengappa Chekkara will cycle from Bengaluru to Virajpete on August 12. Ashish Muthappa is a second-year interior design student at Jain University, and his friend Chengappa Chekkara is an HR consultant.

Muthappa told Bangalore Mirror, “Cauvery is the lifeline of South India. It provides water to over 80 million people and 600 major industries across the region. The food, water and economic security of southern India depend largely on the Cauvery. Trees were axed for a high-tension power line from Mysuru to Kozhikode in Kerala. There is a proposal to expand the railway network and four-laning of national highways through Kodagu. The weather is already changing and it is becoming humid. The projects will indeed cause large scale destruction of several thousands of precious trees that guard the Cauvery catchment area. Do we really need this development at the cost of water?”

The duo has participated in multiple cycle expeditions in the past, most of them being in and around Bengaluru city, for a cause. Ashish said, “We hope to leave Bengaluru at about 1am so that we reach Mandya early in the morning. We are looking forward to interacting with farmer groups there. We hope to video-record our interactions with farmers. We are approaching cyclists in Mysuru. Cyclists from Coorg are expected to join us in Mysuru, Gonikoppa and Virajpete where the expedition ends," he said.

The cycling expedition will be 270km long. And it is just the beginning. “We would like to spread more awareness on environment degradation by cycling through the Western Ghats stretch soon. When we observe the Cauvery catchment area, we have noticed that massive deforestation is taking place and no afforestation,” they said.

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